# 2010 Rally Japan

The 2010 Rally Japan, was the 10th round of the 2010 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. The 26 stage gravel rally took place on 9 – 12 September 2010 and was based in the city of Sapporo. The rally featured eight super specials at the Sapporo Dome with the rally finishing at the Dome on the Sunday afternoon.
Sébastien Ogier took the second WRC victory of his career, capitalising on a broken damper for Petter Solberg which dropped him out of the lead on the final morning of the rally. Ogier also cut into teammate Sébastien Loeb's championship lead, reducing it to 43 points before their home event in France.

## Introduction

Prior to the rally, depending on results, Sébastien Loeb could have clinched his seventh consecutive world title with three events to spare. With a 58-point lead over teammate Sébastien Ogier pre-rally, Loeb had to outscore Ogier by 18 points in order to secure the championship, as well as beating Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala by 2 points, as the Finnish driver was 74 points behind Loeb. Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo were still in mathematical contention but would have to finish in the top two placings in Japan, with Loeb failing to score, to stay in contention.

## Results
### Event standings

| Pos. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| Overall |||||||
| 1. | Sébastien Ogier | Julien Ingrassia | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:10:26.4 | 0.0 | 25 |
| 2. | Petter Solberg | Chris Patterson | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:10:42.1 | 15.7 | 18 |
| 3. | Jari-Matti Latvala | Miikka Anttila | Ford Focus RS WRC 09 | 3:10:52.4 | 26.0 | 15 |
| 4. | Dani Sordo | Diego Vallejo | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:11:01.6 | 35.2 | 12 |
| 5. | Sébastien Loeb | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:11:19.7 | 53.3 | 10 |
| 6. | Mikko Hirvonen | Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC 09 | 3:11:39.9 | 1:13.5 | 8 |
| 7. | Henning Solberg | Ilka Minor | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 3:13:29.5 | 3:03.1 | 6 |
| 8. | Federico Villagra | Jorge Pérez Companc | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 3:20:44.3 | 10:17.9 | 4 |
| 9. | Jari Ketomaa | Mika Stenberg | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 3:25:13.5 | 14:47.1 | 2 |
| 10. | Martin Prokop | Jan Tománek | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 3:25:47.2 | 15:20.8 | 1 |
| SWRC |||||||
| 1. (9.) | Jari Ketomaa | Mika Stenberg | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 3:25:13.5 | 0.0 | 25 |
| 2. (10.) | Martin Prokop | Jan Tománek | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 3:25:47.2 | 33.7 | 18 |
| PWRC |||||||
| 1. (11.) | Patrik Flodin | Göran Bergsten | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 3:31:08.3 | 0.0 | 25 |
| 2. (12.) | Hayden Paddon | John Kennard | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | 3:33:54.1 | 2:45.8 | 18 |
| 3. (16.) | Gianluca Linari | Paolo Gregoriani | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 3:46:15.1 | 15:06.8 | 15 |
| 4. (17.) | Kyosuke Kamata | Takumi Takahashi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 3:48:18.6 | 17:10.3 | 12 |
| 5. (20.) | Wang Rui | Pan Hongyu | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 3:53:07.8 | 21:59.5 | 10 |
| 6. (46.) | Reijo Muhonen | Lasse Miettinen | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X | 4:39:53.3 | 1:08:45.0 | 8 |

### Special stages

All dates and times are JST (UTC+9).
| Day | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS1 | 18:40 | SSS Sapporo 1 | 1.57 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:21.8 | 69.10 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS2 | 18:52 | SSS Sapporo 2 | 1.57 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:21.4 | 69.43 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS3 | 10:23 | Iwanke 1 | 26.92 km | Petter Solberg | 16:21.2 | 98.77 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS4 | 11:27 | Sikot 1 | 27.76 km | Petter Solberg | 15:49.9 | 105.21 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS5 | 12:15 | Koyka 1 | 3.55 km | Henning Solberg | 1:55.1 | 111.03 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS6 | 15:03 | Iwanke 2 | 26.92 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 16:08.0 | 100.12 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS7 | 16:07 | Sikot 2 | 27.76 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 15:35.0 | 106.88 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS8 | 16:55 | Koyka 2 | 3.55 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 1:55.9 | 110.27 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS9 | 18:34 | SSS Sapporo 3 | 1.57 km | Sébastien Loeb | 1:24.5 | 66.89 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 1 (9–10 Sept) | SS10 | 18:46 | SSS Sapporo 4 | 1.57 km | Petter Solberg | 1:24.0 | 67.29 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS11 | 10:28 | Nikara 1 | 17.68 km | Petter Solberg | 9:38.8 | 109.97 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS12 | 11:26 | Kamuycep 1 | 33.76 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 21:02.3 | 96.28 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS13 | 12:22 | Kina 1 | 9.55 km | Dani Sordo | 5:34.5 | 102.78 km/h | Jari-Matti Latvala |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS14 | 15:09 | Nikara 2 | 17.68 km | Petter Solberg | 9:30.0 | 111.66 km/h | Jari-Matti Latvala |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS15 | 16:07 | Kamuycep 2 | 33.76 km | Dani Sordo | 20:31.5 | 98.69 km/h | Jari-Matti Latvala |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS16 | 17:03 | Kina 2 | 9.55 km | Petter Solberg | 5:32.6 | 103.37 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS17 | 18:33 | SSS Sapporo 5 | 1.57 km | Petter Solberg | 1:24.8 | 66.65 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 2 (11 Sept) | SS18 | 18:45 | SSS Sapporo 6 | 1.57 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 1:24.1 | 67.21 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS19 | 7:31 | Bisan 1 | 4.71 km | Sébastien Loeb | 2:27.7 | 114.80 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS20 | 8:13 | Naekawa 1 | 17.86 km | Sébastien Ogier | 14:21.6 | 74.62 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS21 | 9:37 | Sunagawa 1 | 3.70 km | Sébastien Loeb | 2:39.7 | 83.41 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS22 | 10:12 | Bisan 2 | 4.71 km | Sébastien Ogier | 2:26.4 | 115.82 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS23 | 10:54 | Naekawa 2 | 17.86 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 14:05.6 | 76.04 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS24 | 11:58 | Sunagawa 2 | 3.70 km | Sébastien Loeb | 2:36.3 | 85.22 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS25 | 14:00 | SSS Sapporo 7 | 1.57 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:24.0 | 67.29 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |
| Leg 3 (12 Sept) | SS26 | 14:12 | SSS Sapporo 8 | 1.57 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 1:23.8 | 67.45 km/h | Sébastien Ogier |

### Standings after the rally

| Pos. | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Sébastien Loeb | 201 |
| 2 | Sebastien Ogier | 158 |
| 3 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 132 |
| 4 | Petter Solberg | 118 |
| 5 | Dani Sordo | 107 |
| 6 | Mikko Hirvonen | 94 |
| 7 | Matthew Wilson | 56 |
| 8 | Henning Solberg | 31 |
| 9 | Federico Villagra | 30 |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | 21 |
| Pos. | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | Citroen WRT | 345 |
| 2 | BP Ford WRT | 250 |
| 3 | Citroen Junior Team | 183 |
| 4 | Stobart Ford | 130 |
| 5 | Munchi's Ford | 46 |